


A Better Actor

by untilpeace_thestorm



Category: The Voice (US) RPF, The Voice RPF
Genre: Angst, Inspired by Music, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-07
Updated: 2015-11-07
Packaged: 2018-04-30 10:58:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5161226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/untilpeace_thestorm/pseuds/untilpeace_thestorm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hearing "All I Want" for the second time on this show was a little too much for Adam.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Better Actor

After Summer left the stage, Adam couldn't hold back any longer. He'd already been good and stayed through both songs as well as the critique so thank you very much, but he needed to...needed to go, to move, to get out of here...preferably _now_. He signaled to a nearby PA who came over immediately. After a muffled excuse, he rocketed out of his chair and sped offstage. 

Carson watched him go, too practiced to let any confusion color his expression. He merely motioned for the same PA to come up to speak with him and lowered his mic, his gaze flitting from Gwen down the line to Pharrell and then Blake. 

Of course it was the country singer he should have looked to first. Blake had an intense glint in his eyes, burning a hole in the pathway behind the cameras, the one that seemed to ghost Adam's hasty exit. After what seemed like a second eternity, his blue eyes finally sought Carson's, as though seeking permission -- or maybe just confirmation -- before he rose wordlessly and paced a steady line out after the other man. 

Carson had been doing the show for nine seasons now and he knew better than the two remaining musicians in the chairs that they should just let whatever was happening...happen. He'd wring the story out of one of the boys later. He had to — they looked like hell and he knew how stupid they both were. But for now they had an audience and a schedule they should try to stick to and he was nothing if not...tirelessly professional. He let out a big, theatrical sigh before engaging one of the fans with a few questions. The other coaches took the hint and started chatting to each other, Pharrell praising Gwen's choice in the last Knockout. 

Blake definitely didn't have schedules or timetables or producers or audience members or his fellow coaches' confusion in his mind as he left the noise of the studio in favor of the long hallways and fluorescents of the rest of the building. He could only think of one thing, never mind the fact they still had a full day's shooting ahead of them. None of that mattered. Why had Gwen let that girl pick that song? 

That was unfair. Korin couldn't know and neither could Gwen. Not really. 

And fuck, anyway. It was Adam that mattered. Not the show. 

He finally found the rockstar leaning over one of the rehearsal pianos. He looked...composed. A heck of a lot more so than what Blake was expecting, even if he wasn't looking in his direction. The younger man was quiet, still as a statue and more serene, suspended between wanting to let his fingers fly over the keys and knowing better than to seek solace in music at that moment. 

"Her voice is beautiful." 

Blake winced visibly at Adam's tone. It creaked with a breathless pain he wished he could soothe. It told him that Adam was more than aware of his presence, and maybe he'd even been expecting him. It told him more plainly than anything just what was running through the rockstar's head. _The same thing that's running through yours, you stupid idiot._ He was trying to get his brain to work, trying to think of anything he could say that wouldn't sound stupid or callous and he's failing, fuck -- 

"Haunting. So different from Deanna. More delicate. That note..." 

Adam continued in the same tone, still refusing to look up at Blake. His heart was pounding, but all he let himself focus on was exuding a sense of calm. It used to be so easy. They used to be so easy...He used to draw strength from stolen moments like these, away from crowds and cameras. Now all he felt was drained. He'd thought he could do this...He'd even drunkenly called Keira the night before they'd even started filming the season, asking her if she thought he did a good job acting like his heart wasn't shattered in front of America's millions.

"We gotta go back, Adam." Blake's usually warm accent is uncertain, and he's kicking himself already for sounding like an asshole, for not having the right thing to say, but Adam stirs at his words and looks up. 

His normally lively eyes are dull, expression blank. Blake feels like a truck's hit him, and he's stunned long enough for Adam to rise and move past him, back toward the buzz of the studio. Blake prays he's imagining it when he hears, "I don't think we can, Cowboy." 

And then he's following behind Adam, whose steps become bounces once there's an audience, who glances over his shoulder to give Blake the cockiest, most beautifully devilish smile he's ever seen as he dances his way back to his chair for the next round. 

And Blake is speechless, trying to look like he's in on the joke. Adam's a better actor than he is, but he can learn.

**Author's Note:**

> Short fic inspired by Korin's rendition of "All I Want" during knockouts, as well as a callback to Deanna's performance last season and Adam and Blake's reactions during both. I thought the very limited shots we got of them during Korin's, and what they looked like during it, were interesting in comparison to last season.


End file.
